Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Artist of the Day: King Krule

Archie Marshall is about 3 months younger than me, and that makes me feel pretty bad, you know, in a "what have I done?" kind of way. Under his stage name, King Krule (we probably got Donkey Kong 64 around the same time, too), Marshall has been showing the rest of Brit rock and, hell, the world, that life and vivacity is still a viable option in modern guitar music. I don’t think you can quite say his project’s “broken” yet, but it won’t be long. I mean to say there’s no chance King Krule’s music won’t make it big, and in the most deserving way imaginable, so if you aren’t familiar with Marshall’s splintery oboe of a voice yet, get on it.

King Krule’s first full length, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, drops August 24th. For a bit of buildup, a video for the excellent, rallying “Easy Easy” was put out yesterday. It’s pretty standard fare, showing Marshall galavanting around dirty streets and occasionally rattling off lyrics in the unyielding gleam of the sun. He’s just your average British dude. The song even brings to mind the fumbling attempts of the inexplicably hyped Palma Violets to sound relatable, universal, except Krule does it right. See, he’s not an aficionado. He’ll be no one’s guitar hero, and his songs are never overbearing. They know their place (though he isn’t surprised Beyonce likes them). He’s a regular everyman, but the way he strings disparate worlds together, with sleepy Carribean front-porch guitar lines meshing with tonal 909 electronic bass woops, all glued together with sweet production... boy, he’s tackled the terror of songwriting better than any young artist in ages. Simplicity is the wild beast he tamed, and he sure can sing.

I don’t get really excited that often. I am about Mr. Archie Marshall. Right now his tour is disappointingly short and disproportionately metropolis-prone, but keep an eye out.